Even With the A to Z Challenge: Awww Monday, an Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday

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To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.     

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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that's it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

Even with the whole house from which to choose, Dansig wants to snooze on the kitchen table.  

We have to sanitize before every use!

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Sparks, the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, is on hiatus, so here's an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.

EverydayPower

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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  She and Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey take turns providing a theme each week.   Charlotte/Mother Owl almost always participates, too.  This week the theme is Things That Scare Us.           

Since i do like spiders and snakes,

And i'm not afraid of needles,

Some roller coasters are fun,

And i even like worms and beetles,

You might just have to wonder

What's scary or heartrending,

To me, i am very afraid

My to do list will be never-ending!

My fear is simple

That there is no such thing as

"Get back to normal"

Not to say there are not

Serious things that happen,

But i have found

In my life

That worry does no good,

It is like praying for

The things you don't want

And being afraid is useless,

Be careful, take precautions

And know things happen anyway

When they do, remember,

We are never in control,

And never were,

He is. 

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Today is:

Act of Self Determination Day -- Cocos (Keeling) Islands 

Animated Cartoon Day -- date of release, in 1908, of Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, often considered the first actual animated cartoon

Army Day -- US (by proclamation of FDR in 1942)

California Poppy Day -- California, US (state flower)

Chakri Dynasty Day and  King Rama I Memorial Day -- Thailand

Drowsy Driver Awareness Day -- please pull over and take a nap when you need to

International Day of Sport for Development and Peace -- UN (on the anniversary of the date of the opening of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896)

Jump Over Things Day -- probably started by the same people who brought us Walk Around Things Day on the 4th; as if friends and family aren't looking at you strangely enough after that one

Mahavir Jayanti -- Jain (honoring Lord Mahavira on the founder's birth anniversary; local dates may vary)

National Caramel Popcorn Day

National Health Day -- Kiribati

National Student Athlete Day -- US

National Wildlife Week -- US (go learn how to safely observe wildlife this week; sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation)   

New Beer's Eve -- US (unofficial celebration of the end of Prohibition; beer became legal to sell again on tomorrow's date in 1933)

North Pole Day -- Peary and Co. arrived there this day in 1909

Plan Your Epitaph Day -- figure out how you want to be remembered, and then live that way! (some sites celebrate this on Nov. 1)

President Ntaryamira Day -- Burundi (anniversary of assassination)

Sorting-Out of the Doggets Day -- Fairy Calendar

St. Sixtus' Day (Patron of Alatri, Italy)

Tartan Day -- Scottish diaspora of Canada and the US (anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320)

Teflon Day --  Polytetraflouroethylene resin was developed by Roy J. Plunkett while working for  E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in 1938

Think About Spring Cleaning Day -- don't do it, just think about it

Twinkie Day -- the snack cakes that will never go away were invented on this day in 1930

Birthdays Today:

Candace Cameron, 1976

Zach Braff, 1975

Ari Meyers, 1969

Paul Rudd, 1969

Marilu Henner, 1952

John Razenberger, 1947

Barry Levinson, 1942

Philip Austin, 1941

Roy Thinnes, 1938

Merle Haggard, 1937

Billy Dee Williams, 1937

Andre Previn, 1929

James Watson, 1928

Gerry Mulligan, 1927

Lowell Thomas, 1892

Rose Schneiderman, 1882

Butch Cassidy, 1866

René Lalique, 1860

Raphael, 1483

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Barney & Friends"(TV), 1992

Post-It Notes(first day of sale), 1980

"Entertaining Mr. Sloane"(Play), 1964

"Little Orphan Annie"(Radio series), 1931

"La Double Inconstance / Double Inconsistancy"(Play), 1723

Today in History:

Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus, BC46

The Roman army under the command of Stilicho stymies the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia, 402

Charlemagne confirms his father Pepin the Short's "Donation of Pepin," which had established the Papal States, 774

King Richard I, The Lionheart, of England dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder, 1199

The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath, 1320

The Italian poet Petrarch first sees his beloved Laura, 1327

At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town , 1652

An earthquake devastates Dubrovnik, then an independent city-state, 1667

Peter the Great of Russia ends the tax on men with beards in that country, 1722

Rama I succeeds King Taksin of Siam (modern day Thailand), who is overthrown in a coup d'état, 1782

The Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic in France, and the period known as the Reign of Terror begins, 1793

John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, 1808

Celluloid, the first plastic, is patented, 1869

The city of Vancouver, BC, is incorporated, 1886

The Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City is dedicated, 1893

In Athens, the first modern Olympic Games are opened, 1,500 years after being banned by Emperor Theodosius I; James Connoly of the US becomes the first gold medalist of the modern games, 1896

The Kishinev pogrom forces thousands of Jews to seek refuge in Israel and the West, 1903

Robert Peary and Matthew Henson allegedly reach the North Pole, 1909

Governor Huey P. Long is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1929

Mohandas Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire." Thus he starts the Salt Satyagraha, 1930

Launch of Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit, 1965

The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter, 1973

Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India, 1998

Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment, 2004

Scientists announce the discovery of three new animal species that spent their entire lives without oxygen, 2010

In England, lawmakers ban the display of tobacco products, hoping the move will lead to a reduction in the number of youths who smoke, 2012

The first baby with DNA from 3 parents through mitochondrial transfer is born in Mexico, 2016

NASA's InSight lander detects its first ever "Marsquake," a seismic event on Mars, 2019